WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – Wednesday marks 10 years since a plane crashed into the FlightSafety building at what was then known as the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport.
The crash killed four people, the pilot and three in the building.
The family of one woman who was working in the building when the crash happened says her memory is still with them.
When the holidays roll around, they’re an annual reminder for Nataliya Menestrina’s family of who she was. Nataliya was an immigrant from Ukraine who grew up in the Soviet Union. Her widowed husband says she was infatuated with holiday celebrations.
In Larry Menestrina’s house, time stopped a decade ago.
“I’m a little bit embarrassed by saying this is the birthday celebration that she set up for me for my birthday 10 years ago,” Larry said.
He celebrated his birthday days before Nataliya’s death.
“I was with her on Wednesday; on Thursday, she left for work,” Larry said. “I never saw her again.”
It was the day Larry lost his soulmate. His daughter, who was 10 years old at the time, lost more than her mother.
“I lost my whole family that day,” said Juliana Menestrina. “I lost a piece of my dad that I would never get back from him, you lose a part of your sister you’ll never get back, you lose your whole family.”
Nataliya was extremely involved in Juliana’s life, teaching her Russian and enrolling her in piano and gymnastics.
“I remember, you know, tumbling, and I’d look up, and she’d be in the balcony, she’d be reading a book,” Juliana said.
The little things hit hard.
“Being in gymnastics class and looking up to not seeing her there,” Juliana said.
Juliana’s parents shared a love story spanning oceans. They were introduced to one another through mutual friends and got to know each other through letters.
“She had a very a kind of a guiding principle that I really love,” Menestrina said, “to the world, you may be one person, but to one person, you may be the world.”
To her family, the world is exactly what Natalya was.